Zurich, Switzerland — Water trapped behind a mass of glacial debris that buried a village and blocked a river in southern Switzerland this week, has sparked warnings that further evacuations may be needed amid the risk of flooding in the Alpine valley.
A deluge of millions of cubic meters of ice, mud and rock crashed down a mountain on Wednesday, engulfing the village of Blatten, and the few houses that remained later flooded. Its 300 residents had been evacuated earlier in May after part of the mountain behind the Birch Glacier began to crumble.
Flooding increased on Thursday as the mound of debris almost 2km across clogged the path of the River Lonza, causing a lake to form amid the wreckage, raising fears that the morass could dislodge and trigger more evacuations.
Late on Thursday, local authorities urged residents in Gampel and Steg, villages several kilometres further along the Lonza Valley, to prepare for possible evacuation in case of emergency.
The army was standing by with water pumps, diggers and other heavy equipment to provide relief when conditions allow.
Residents have struggled to absorb the scale of destruction caused by the deluge, an event that scientists suspect is a dramatic example of the effects of climate change in the Alps.
Reuters
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